Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of PM’s address while dedicating and laying the foundation stone of cancer hospitals in Assam
Governor of Assam Shri Jagdish Mukhi ji, popular and energetic Chief Minister of Assam Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma ji, my senior colleagues in the Union Cabinet Shri Sarbananda Sonowal ji and Shri Rameswar Teli ji, Shri Ratan Tata ji, who contributed significantly to the development of the country, ministers in the Assam government, Shri Keshab Mahanta ji, Ajanta Neog ji and Atul Bora ji, Shri Ranjan Gogoi ji, the son of this soil and who rendered excellent services in the field of justice and is helping us in the process of drafting laws in Parliament, MPs, MLAs and my dear brothers and sisters!
First of all, I extend my best wishes for Rongali Bihu and Assam’s New Year!
In this season of celebration and enthusiasm, today I have got an opportunity to be part of your enthusiasm in this grand ceremony to give further impetus to the development of Assam. Today, from this historic city, I remember and bow down respectfully to the great personalities who contributed to the Assamese pride and to the development of Assam.
Friends,
Bharat Ratna Bhupen Hazarika's song is:
बोहाग माठो एटि ऋतु नोहोय नोहोय बोहाग एटी माह
अखोमिया जातिर ई आयुष रेखा गोनो जीयोनोर ई खाह !
We try to serve you day and night to make the lifeline of Assam indelible and distinct. With this resolution, I want to come again and again among you. Assam today is full of enthusiasm for peace and development, and a short while ago I saw the euphoria, enthusiasm, dreams and determination in Karbi Anglong.
Friends,
I also saw the newly built Cancer Hospital in Dibrugarh and the facilities built there. Today seven new cancer hospitals have been inaugurated in Assam. There was a time when it was considered a big festival if a hospital was built in seven years. Time has changed today, and seven hospitals are being inaugurated in a day in the state. I am told that three more cancer hospitals will be ready in the coming few months to serve you. Apart from these, the construction work of seven new modern hospitals in the state is also starting today. With these hospitals, there will be better facilities for cancer treatment in many districts of Assam. Hospitals are necessary and the government is building them. But I want to wish you just the opposite. The hospitals are at your disposal, but I do not want the people of Assam to ever face the trouble of going to hospitals. I wish you all the best. I would be happy if all our newly built hospitals remain unoccupied and no one in your family has to go to the hospital. But we will be ready to serve you if such a need arises and cancer patients do not have to face death due to inconvenience.
Brothers and sisters,
Such a comprehensive and widespread system for the treatment of cancer in Assam is important because a large number of people have been detected here with cancer. Cancer is becoming a huge problem not only in Assam but also in the North East. The most affected are our poor families, poor brothers and sisters and our middle-class families. Until a few years ago, patients had to go to big cities for the treatment of cancer. As a result, a huge financial burden fell on the poor and the middle-class families. I congratulate former Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal ji and current Chief Minister Himanta ji and Tata Trust for the steps taken in the last five-six years to overcome this problem of the poor and the middle-class families. Such a huge network of affordable and effective cancer treatment is now ready here in the form of the Assam Cancer Care Foundation. This is a great service to humanity.
Friends,
The Central Government is also making continuous efforts to deal with this huge challenge of cancer in the entire North East, including Assam. The infrastructure related to cancer treatment is also being strengthened in the capital Guwahati. In this year's budget, a special scheme of Rs 1500 crore for the development of North East, PM-DevINE, has also focused on cancer treatment. Under this, a dedicated facility for the treatment of cancer will be prepared in Guwahati.
Brothers and sisters,
Serious diseases like cancer weaken the family and society emotionally and financially. Therefore, a lot of work has been done in the health sector in the country in the last 7-8 years. Our government has focused on seven issues or we can say on the ‘Saptarishis’ of health.
The first effort is the prevention of diseases. Therefore, our government has given a lot of emphasis on preventive healthcare. Many programs like yoga, fitness and cleanliness are part of this. Second, if there is a disease, it should be detected in the beginning. For this, new testing centers are being built across the country. The third focus is that people should have better first aid facilities near their homes. For this, a network of primary health centers is being developed with a renewed strength in the form of wellness centers across the country. The fourth effort is that the poor should get free treatment in the best hospitals. Free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh is being given by the Government of India under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
Friends,
Our fifth focus is to minimize the dependence on big cities for good treatment. Therefore, our government is making unprecedented investments in health infrastructure. We have seen that all the good hospitals built after independence are in big cities only. Even if the health deteriorates slightly, one has to run to bigger cities. This has been happening so far. But our government has been committed to changing this situation since 2014. There were only 7 AIIMS in the country before 2014. Except for the Delhi AIIMS, there was no study for MBBS and there was no OPD. Some hospitals remained incomplete. We rectified all these and declared 16 new AIIMS in the country.
AIIMS Guwahati is also one of them. Our government is working on the goal of setting up one medical college in every district of the country. There were 387 medical colleges in the country before 2014. Now, this number is close to 600.
Friends,
The sixth focus of our government is also on increasing the number of doctors. In the last seven years, more than 70,000 new seats have been added for MBBS and PG. Our government has also considered more than five lakh Ayush doctors at par with allopathic doctors. This has also improved the doctor-patient ratio in India. Recently, the government has made a big decision. The government has decided that 50 percent of seats in private medical colleges will be charged the same fee as any government medical college. Thousands of youth are getting the benefit of this. The number of doctors available in the next 10 years will be more than what the country got after independence due to the efforts of our government.
Friends,
The seventh focus of our government is the digitization of health services. The effort of the government is to get rid of long queues for treatment and other problems related to treatment. Several schemes have been implemented in this regard. The effort is that the citizens of the country should get the benefits of the schemes of the central government, anywhere in the country without any hassle. This is the spirit of One Nation, One Health. This gave strength to the country to deal with the challenges even in the biggest pandemic of 100 years.
Friends,
The Central government schemes are making cancer treatment accessible and affordable in the country. Another important decision of our government is to ensure the son and daughter of the poor become a doctor, or a child living in the village who did not get a chance to study English in life can also become a doctor. Therefore, the Government of India is moving in the direction of creating facilities for those who want to do medical education in their mother tongue, in the local language, so that even the child of the poor can become a doctor.
Over the years, the prices of many essential cancer drugs have almost halved. It has led to the annual saving of about 1000 crore rupees for cancer patients. Arrangements have been made through the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras so that more than 900 medicines should be available at affordable rates, the medicines which are available in the market for Rs 100 should be available for Rs 10-20. Many of these drugs are related to the treatment of cancer. These facilities are also saving hundreds of crores of rupees for the patients. If there are elderly parents in a middle-class or lower-middle-class family and they suffer from diabetes, then the monthly bill of medicines ranges between Rs. 1000-2000. We have ensured that it should cost between 80-100 rupees if one buys medicines from Jan Aushadhi Kendras.
A large number of cancer patients are among the beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat scheme. When this scheme was not in place, many poor families avoided cancer treatment. They used to think that they would have to raise a loan in case of hospitalization and their children would be in debt. The elderly parents preferred death to burdening their children with loans. They would not go to hospital for their treatment. If poor parents die due to lack of treatment, then what are we for? Our mothers and sisters would not prefer their treatment. They were concerned about loans or the sale of houses or land for treatment. Our government has worked to liberate our mothers, sisters and daughters from this worry.
Brothers and sisters,
The Ayushman Bharat scheme is not only providing free treatment, but is also helping in the early detection of serious diseases like cancer. More than 15 crore colleagues have been screened for cancer in the health and wellness centers that are being opened all over the country, including Assam. In the case of cancer, it is very important that it is detected at the earliest. This can prevent it from becoming malignant.
Friends,
Assam is also reaping the benefits of the ongoing campaign to strengthen the medical infrastructure in the country. Himanta ji and his team are making commendable efforts to open medical colleges in every district as part of the national resolve. The central government has ensured that all facilities from oxygen to ventilators continue to be ramped up in Assam. The Government of Assam has taken several important steps to implement the critical care infrastructure rapidly.
Brothers and sisters,
The country and the world are constantly battling the infection of Corona. The scope of the vaccination campaign in India has increased a lot. Now many vaccines have been approved for children too. Permission has also been given for precautionary doses. Now it is the responsibility of all of us to vaccinate ourselves on time and also to give this protection shield to the children.
Friends,
The Central and Assam governments are working sincerely to provide a better life to lakhs of families working in tea gardens. The Assam government is rapidly providing all the facilities from free rations to tap water under the Har Ghar Jal Yojana to tea gardens. Continuous efforts are also being made to improve education and employment opportunities. This is our resolve that no person and no family should be left out of the benefits of development.
Brothers and sisters,
Today, we have made the scope of public welfare very broad by following the stream of development. Earlier, a few subsidies were considered to be part of public welfare. Projects of infrastructure and connectivity were not seen as part of welfare. In fact, delivery of public facilities becomes very difficult in the absence of better connectivity. Now the country is moving forward leaving that concept of the last century behind. Today you can see roads being built in remote areas of Assam, bridges being built on the Brahmaputra and the rail network is getting strengthened. Now it has become easier to go to schools, colleges and hospitals. Opportunities for livelihood are opening up and the poorest of the poor are saving money. Today the poorest of the poor are getting the facilities of mobile phones and they are being connected to the internet. This has made it easy for him to access every service of the government and he is getting rid of corruption.
Brothers and sisters,
We are committed to accelerating the development of Assam and the country through ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas. It is our endeavor that the connectivity is strengthened in Assam and new investment opportunities are created here. There are many possibilities for investment in Assam. We have to convert these possibilities into opportunities. Be it tea, organic farming, oil-related industries, or tourism, we have to take the development of Assam to new heights.
Friends,
My visit to Assam today is very memorable. On one hand, I have met those people, who want to shun the path of violence and join the stream of peace and development and now I am among you who do not have to face a struggle in life due to illness and there are arrangements for their happiness and peace. You have come to bless us. Bihu itself is the biggest festival of joy and celebration. I have been visiting Assam for many years and there is hardly any occasion when I have not visited Assam during Bihu. But today I saw such a large number of mothers and sisters dancing together in Bihu. I especially salute the mothers and sisters of Assam for this love and blessing. I thank them from the bottom of my heart.
Friends,
Ratan Tata ji himself came today. His relationship started with the tea  and it has now expanded to the well-being . Today he has also joined us for your best health. I welcome him and once again wish you all the very best for these new facilities.
Many thanks!
Speak with me with all your might:
Bharat Mata ki – Jai!
Bharat Mata ki – Jai!
Bharat Mata ki – Jai!
Thanks a lot!
DISCLAIMER: This is the approximate translation of Prime Minister’s remarks. Original remarks were delivered in Hindi.